To: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org
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From: daw@cs.berkeley.edu (David Wagner)
Newsgroups: isaac.lists.linux-kernel
Subject: Re: [PATCH] getrusage sucks
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2005 05:06:00 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
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References: <200511102334.10926.cloud.of.andor@gmail.com>
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Claudio Scordino  wrote:
>Does exist any _real_ reason why getrusage can't be invoked by a task to know 
>statistics of another task ?

Probably only super-user should be permitted to read the usage information
about other processes.  Allowing anyone to read anyone else's rusage would
open up a bunch of side channels that sound pretty dangerous.  For instance,
user #1 might be able to mount a timing attack against crypto code being
executed by user #2, and that doesn't sound good.
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